User blog:ENG/The fetid jungles are much worthy of a deforestation!
Granted, I may be one who likes to restrain civilization from overrunning the beauty of nature, but Mephisto went too far in his ideals of preserving nature. In my extensive readings of mythical Earth tales, the artful renditions of a "Meso-American" civilization have an uncanny resemblance to the buildings of Kurast. I kept gazing in awe at the architectures around me. Now, those Fetishes (what a weird name to call them) are like 5-year-olds straight from Hell, probably because they are! I've believed in the Age of Accountability for a long time, so I would hope to Tyrael, the other Angels and unseen Godhead that these Fetish demons are NOT spiritually condemned children! To my Paladin buddy Chileth, those range attacks from those blowpipes could be rather annoying to him, but at least with my curses, ranged attacks, Elly's and my necromages' range attacks, we get to respond in kind. I could almost promise you that I could SEE the jungle trees grow! Clearly it has been Mephisto's magic! When we rebuild Kurast and make Kehjistan stronger than it has been, the jungle's wood must be used for this purpose. Since it reeks of an evil aura, a deforestation is truly in order here. Even whoever the environmentalists may be would agree. It appeared that Kurast, the city itself, was divided into socioeconomic classes. Lower Kurast was for the lower-class commoner folk (those huts looked depressing, inadequate, and incomplete. No doors; just open air making the house vulnerable to the elements, and super-drafty as well!) The Bazaar area appeared to be a giant market where the middle-class probably lived, and the lower-and-upper intermingled when they went to buy and sell. Then you can get an idea of who lived in the Upper-Class area. Those temples, meetinghouses, and stone homes still didn't meet my standards, but is quite the place for the Kurasteans. Finally, Travincal would have to be the creme-de-la-creme sector. Mostly temples, but maybe a few mansions in there. Separated by a causeway and walled in, there appeared to be an analogue of Tenochtitlan of the tales I read in my youth. At least Travincal was somehow NOT absorbed by the jungle like how it was slowly digesting Kurast. This would have to be because it was on its own island, so it looked as pristine as it did on the day of the evacuation/slaughter. Then down in the Durance of Hate, which is some underground sub-temple of the principal temple of the city, this felt as close to Hell as I've ever gotten; the otherwise ornate spaces filled with tortured blood. I would hope magi clean the blood off with their spells rather than have average workers do it laboriously. At the lowest level, there was a moat filled with blood. I could not believe the sights, and thought I grew thick skin from all these battles. I refused to let the smells hinder my ability to fight, so I kept casting a micro-spell to numb my nose. Finally, the Lord of Hatred himself came down from the top of the steps. I attempted to Bone Wall him in place so we could fight him with relative ease, but my potions burned through, and I had to portal to the Docks to get new ones. (The regulars as opposed to the Greaters were what they had available; I had to make do.) Also, my minion platoon was decimated, leaving me and my love Elly. I had to return to Aranoch to find more demons to raise minions from. My Iron Golem was no problem; I just had to find any metal object not bolted or welded down anywhere. After his defeat, I took notice of a shimmering evil halo giving me the angriest stare I've ever seen. This portal did not tell me where I was going to go. I had to off-load Mephisto's treasure back at the docks but when I arrived, Natalya was gone! I don't know what her story was, but perhaps her contract was to protect the Docks until Mephisto was defeated, then she could return from whence she came. The soulstone I picked up was as blue as Heaven itself, but shimmered with the remnants of his hatred that he left on it. Nevertheless, now that Mephisto has been banished from here, hopefully Hatred will all but be an emotion of the past. --ENG 12:52, 18 January 2009 (UTC)